In December 2020, the cash strapped City of Myrtle Beach entered into an sell agreement with two local “insider campground lease holders” for 145 acres of oceanfront campground property. The sale price was an incredible $50 million for the oceanfront property.
Others developers spoke with MyrtleBeachSC News stating they were willing to pay as much as $100 million for the property.
The sale actually allows the lease holders of the campgrounds to “assign” (transfer) their rights to purchase the property to another party. Questions remains whether the current leaseholders can sell their rights to this purchase option. Developers put the value of the land at up to $200 million.
A lawsuit was filed by Horry County, but has since been dismissed.
The City received the properties from the United States at no cost, with the condition that the revenue from those properties would be used for airport purposes.
The FAA has repeatedly confirmed the City’s obligation to transfer that revenue to the County for airport purposes in the past, most recently in a March 2021 letter to the City of Myrtle Beach.
The City has stated that it intends to keep the sales proceeds for general municipal purposes. This, however, goes against the FAA mandate.
The FAA’s jurisdiction to resolve these issues renders the county’s previous court action unnecessary, and the County has voluntarily dismissed the state court action while the FAA conducts its investigation.
Ultimately, the County anticipates that the FAA will direct the City of Myrtle Beach to transfer any funds derived from any sale of the properties to the County for the specific benefit of the airport.
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